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Antipater
JOSEPH B. SCHOLTEN
Antipater (Antipatros) was arguably the
most important figure in the fourth century
BCE rise of MACEDONIA, behind the Argead kings
PHILIP II and Alexander III (see ALEXANDER III, “THE
GREAT”). Born ca. 399/8 (Suda s.v. Antipatros),
Antipater was many years Philip’s senior. Yet
he outlived Alexander by several years, and
played a central role in the chaotic events that
followed Alexander’s untimely death.
Antipater’s career thus spanned (and contrib-
uted to) the end of the Classical Greek
era – dominated by great poleis such as Athens
and Sparta and the looming superpower to the
east, the Achaemenid Persian Empire – and the
beginning of the subsequent Hellenistic era of
Greco-Macedonian monarchies.
Antipater personifies the cadre of
Macedonia’s aristocracy whose loyalty Philip
secured, and whose talents he and Alexander
employed and rewarded in, successively,
stabilizing Argead power in Macedonia;
establishing a Macedonian hegemony over
Aegean Greece; and conquering the Persian
Empire. Antipater probably rose to promi-
nence within the pro-Argead Macedonian aris-
tocracy during the reign of PERDIKKAS III. After
Perdikkas’ disastrous demise (360/59), Antip-
ater emerged alongside PARMENION as a key lieu-
tenant of Perdikkas’ brother and successor,
Philip (Plut. Mor. 179b; Athen. 10.435d). An
effective commander, Antipater was even
more capable as a statesman. He helped nego-
tiate the Peace of Philokrates with Athens
(346; Demosth. 19.69; Aesch. 3.72; Dinarchus
1.28), served as regent in Philip’s absence
(Isoc. Ep. 4; Plut. Alex. 9.1), and led the
Macedonian delegation to Athens for peace
talks after the Battle of Chaeronea in 338.
(Justin 9.4.5; Hyper. Against Demades fr.
77¼19.2; I.G. ii2 239; see CHAERONEA, BATTLE
OF). Antipater was also adept at internal
politics, gaining as son-in-law a member
of a powerful family in the vital Upper
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 483–486.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah09035
Macedonian canton of Lynkestis
(Alexander, son of Aeropos: Curt. 7.1.7;
Justin 11.7.1).
With Parmenion absent with the army, it
seems likely that Antipater was the key player
in determining Alexander’s succession amid
the turmoil that followed Philip’s assassination
at Aigai (336). Antipater’s combination
of military/diplomatic competence, personal
influence and prestige, and proven loyalty
to the Argeads no doubt led Alexander to
appoint him regent when he departed for his
Persian campaigns (334; Arr. Anab. 1.11.3;
Curt. 4.1.39; Diod. Sic. 17.17.5; cf. Dein. 1.18;
Diod. Sic. 17.17.2). Our sources’ fixation on
Alexander obscures Antipater’s masterful per-
formance, which allowed Alexander to become
great. Antipater was generally able to keep a
lid on anti-Macedonian resentments that still
seethed among the mainland Greeks and
surrounding peoples. Trouble nevertheless
erupted on at least two early occasions, first
with a Macedonian governor in Thrace
and then with the Spartans under Agis III.
Despite Persian support for his foes
(Arr. Anab. 2.2.4–5; Diod. Sic. 17.29.4, 62.2),
and the steady drain of his own manpower to
feed Alexander’s constant need for replace-
ments (Arr. Anab. 1.29.4, 3.5.1; Diod. Sic.
17.65), Antipater was able to quiet the
Thracian threat, and then crush Agis’ rebellion
(Aesch. 3.165; Diod. Sic. 17.62–3; Curt.
6.1.1–16; Justin 12.1.6–11). He thereby also
quieted anti-Macedonian voices at Athens
and other key communities around the
Hellenic Aegean, stabilizing Alexander’s
power base. (Curt. 6.1.16–21; cf. Din. 1; Aesch.
3.133; Diod. Sic. 17.73.5–6; Bosworth 1988:
198–204).
As with other marshals of Alexander,
Antipater’s success only earned him the suspi-
cion of his murderously paranoid king, a
danger compounded by the meddling in
Macedonia of Alexander’s mother, the Epirote
princess OLYMPIAS (Curt. 10.10.14; Plut. Alex.
39.13; Mor. 180d; Diod. Sic. 17.118; cf.
Plut. Agesil. 15). Antipater avoided the fate of
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Parmenion, PHILOTAS, and other murdered
members of Alexander’s high command
through a combination of shrewdness and
pure luck. Summoned to the king’s court
in 324 for a job-swap with the Chief Marshal
Krateros (see KRATEROS, MACEDONIAN), Antipater
delayed, sending his sons CASSANDER and
Iolaos as intermediaries (Arr. Anab. 7.12.4;
Justin 12.12.9; Curt. 10.10.15). Then, Alexan-
der suddenly fell ill and died, a coincidence
that some ancient sources attribute to a
dose of poison brought by Cassander (Curt.
10.10.17).
Alexander’s failure to groom an heir
(Diod. Sic. 17.16.2) meant that his untimely
death was followed by rebellion and civil war.
During the early stages of this generation
of power struggles (see SUCCESSORS, WARS OF)
Antipater emerged from the shadows,
displaying the same combination of a cool
head, stout heart, and selective ruthlessness
that characterized all the great Macedonian
leaders of his time. In the chaotic negotiations
at Babylon that followed Alexander’s death, his
peers seem to have recognized these qualities,
designating far off Antipater as one of a three
member regency for Alexander’s half-wit half-
brother, PHILIP III ARRHIDAIOS and posthumous
son ALEXANDER IV – along with Krateros and
Alexander’s then right-hand man, PERDIKKAS –
and confirming him as “general (strategos)
over matters in Europe” (Arr. Succ. 1a.3, 7;
Diod. Sic. 18.3.2, 12.1; Justin 13.4.5).
Pent-up anti-Macedonian resistance across
central and southern Greece had already
erupted, in the form of a conflict known then
as the Hellenic War (Paus. 1.25.3–6). Faced
with a broad-based coalition (Diod. Sic.
18.8–11) anchored by traditional power Ath-
ens and newcomer Aitolia – both reacting to
Alexander’s 324 order that all Greek states
take back their exiles (Diod. Sic. 18.8.2–7) –
Antipater sent for help to LEONNATOS, governor
of Hellespontine Phrygia, and Krateros,
secured Macedonia, and headed south. Arriv-
ing in Thessaly just as it defected to swell the
rebels’ ranks to more than twice his, Antipater
was defeated and forced to stand siege in the
Malian stronghold, Lamia (hence the conflict’s
modern designation: the LAMIAN WAR (Diod.
Sic. 18.12.1–4; Arr. Succ. 1.9; Plut. Demosth.
27, Phoc. 23; Hyper. 6.12). Preparation, dog-
gedness, and a run of luck, extricated Antipater
and his army. The Aitolians tired of the siege
and went home; the charismatic Athenian con-
dottiere who led the rebels (Leosthenes) was
killed (Diod. Sic. 18.13.5), and first Leonnatos
and then Krateros arrived from the east,
forcing the end of the siege. At Krannon in
Thessaly, Antipater’s now-superior army of
Alexander veterans wore out the fading rebels,
while off Amorgos his fleet crushed Athens’
last armada (Diod. Sic. 18.13–17; Arr. Succ.
1.12; Paus. 10.3.4; Plut. Phoc. 26, Demosth.
28). In the aftermath, Antipater imposed a
bilateral treaty on each rebel state, thereby dis-
mantling Philip II’s LEAGUE OF CORINTH. Athens
had to accept a garrison on Mounychion Hill
in Piraeus, and its democratic leaders were
either executed (Hypereides) or hunted
down (Demosthenes); see DEMOSTHENES, ORATOR
(Diod. Sic. 18.17–18, 55, 57, 69; Arr. Succ. 1.13;
Plut. Phoc. 26–8, Demosth. 28–30; Austin
2006: 32).
As Antipater and Krateros (now married to
Antipater’s daughter, Phila) were invading
Aitolia, the marshal Antigonos One-Eye
(Monophthalmos) (see ANTIGONOS I MONO-
PHTHALMOS) arrived, warning that the co-
regent, Perdikkas, was aiming at dominance.
Antipater initially tried to maintain the peace
via additional marriage alliances, offering
Perdikkas one daughter (Nikaia) and Ptolemy
(governor of Egypt, see PTOLEMY I SOTER) another
(Eurydike). When Perdikkas dumped Nikaia for
Alexander’s sister Cleopatra, and then attacked
Ptolemy, Antipater moved east for a showdown
(giving Nikaia, along the way, to LYSIMACHOS,
governor of Thrace). Again, luck went with
strategy – by the time Antipater reached Syria
(321/320?) Perdikkas was dead; so, too, was
Krateros, killed fighting Perdikkas’ ally,
Eumenes (Arr. Succ. 1.20–1, 24, 26–8; Diod.
Sic. 18.24–5, 29–37).
Antipater now dominated the Macedonian
nobility that ruled the eastern Mediterranean

and western Asia. At a fractious gathering at
Triparadeisos (see TRIPARADEISOS, TREATY OF),
he tried to restore unity out of the chaos
of civil war, giving Antigonos broad responsi-
bility outside Europe, balanced by strong
colleagues in the key satrapies of Egypt
(Ptolemy) and Babylonia (Seleukos; see
SELEUKOS I). Initially declining the guardianship
of PHILIP III ARRHIDAIOS and Alexander IV, he
eventually took them with him back to Mace-
donia (Diod. Sic. 18.39; Arr. Succ. 1.29–45;
Austin 2006: 30). Along the way he gave
his daughter, Phila (Krateros’ widow), to
Antigonos’ son, Demetrios (see DEMETRIOS
I POLIORKETES).
Not long after returning home, Antipater
died (autumn 319 BCE; Diod. Sic. 18.47–8;
Plut. Phoc. 30; IG II2 382b; Austin 2006: 31).
Thanks in no small part to the machinations
of Cassander, his father’s arrangements to
preserve the peace (and protect his beloved
Argeads) did not long survive. The network
of marriage alliances Antipater had forged,
however, did leave one remarkable legacy: the
three great Hellenistic monarchies all counted
him among their ancestors.
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SEE ALSO: Agis II and III of Sparta; Demades;
Demosthenes, orator; Eurydike, wife of Philip
Arrhidaios; Perdikkas, son of Orontes.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Adams, W. L. (1985) “Antipater and Cassander:
generalship on restricted resources in the fourth
century.” Ancient World 10: 79–88.
Austin, M. M. (2006) The Hellenistic world from
Alexander to the Roman conquest, 2nd ed.
Cambridge.
Billows, R. A. (1990) Antigonos the One-Eyed and
the creation of the Hellenistic state. Berkeley.
Bosworth, A. B. (1988) Conquest and empire.
The reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge.
Bosworth, A. B. (2002) The legacy of Alexander:
politics, warfare, and propaganda under the
Successors. Oxford.
Errington, R. M. (2008) A history of the Hellenistic
world. Malden, MA.
Heckel, W. (1992) The marshals of Alexander’s
empire: 38–49. London.
Trittle, L., ed. (1997) The Greek world in the
fourth century. London.
Will, E. (1984) “The succession to Alexander.” In
Cambridge ancient history, vol. 7. 1: 23–61.
2nd ed. Cambridge.